


To Love Is Perilous

by Celandine



Category: Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Angst, Ficlet, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-28
Updated: 2009-12-28
Packaged: 2017-10-12 16:10:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/126700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Celandine/pseuds/Celandine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One may brave much, for love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Love Is Perilous

**Author's Note:**

  * For [realpestilence](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=realpestilence).



To love is perilous; for a Dwarf to love an immortal Elf doubly so. Gimli had known this from the first.

He never intended to love Legolas. All tradition cried against it, though the Elves of Mirkwood and the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain got along better than was customary between the races. From the moment he had laid eyes on Legolas, however, Gimli had been lost. He had tried to deny the attraction, to ignore it, but in the end he could not.

Wonder of wonders, when Gimli lowered his guard, he found Legolas willing to accept his friendship, to judge Gimli by the standards of Dwarves, never expecting him to be other than what he was. By the time the War of the Ring had ended, and King Elessar sat in Minas Tirith, Gimli knew that this friendship forged in adversity would endure until his own death.

When he said as much to Legolas, the Elf smiled sadly, and Gimli knew that to Legolas, even the long life of a Dwarf was but a little time, yet there was no help for it. It was then, just when Gimli thought he might retreat, that Legolas first touched him with a caress that transcended friendship.

The years passed, and they spoke of the inevitable but little. It could only bring sorrow to do so, and Gimli preferred to enjoy happiness as long as might be. He had so accepted the fact that one day he would die and be parted from Legolas forever – feeling more sorrow for Legolas than himself, since the Elf would be left behind to mourn – that when Legolas brought the news that had obtained this boon for Gimli, that if he chose he might journey west to the Undying Lands with Legolas and the last of the Elves, Gimli found the gift almost too great to accept. He would have neither kith nor kin there in Valinor, and the journey bore its own perils.

Yet in the end, Gimli resolved to go with the one he loved more than gold or jewels or anything else under the light of the sun or moon or stars.

**Author's Note:**

> For realpestilence, who wanted Gimli/Legolas, "Perilous immortal love."


End file.
